Salmonella outbreak in Cádiz caused by 'poor handling and hygiene'
Friday, February 19, 2016 @ 11:30 AM
ONLY two patients remain in hospital after an outbreak of salmonella in Andalucía led to 106 being admitted over carnival weekend.
They had all eaten at the same bar in Cádiz, and are thought to have contracted serious food poisoning from a potato omelette cooked in bulk.
One of the customers had travelled to Cádiz from the province of Jaén and another two from Granada, whilst 28 were from Sevilla and the remaining 75 were local.
Within three days of eating at the bar – which has been temporarily shut down by health authorities pending further investigation – a total of 40 people had already been admitted to hospital and tested positive for salmonella.
Around 13 of them had been admitted within a matter of hours.
Less than two weeks later, the 100-plus victims have mostly recovered, although two remain in Cádiz's Puerta del Mar hospital.
Tests on the omelettes found a high level of the salmonella bacteria in it, and ongoing investigations point to poor handling and hygiene as being the cause.
The omelettes were made the day before and left in the kitchen uncovered and unchilled, where the average temperature measured over 30ºC.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com